Following the submission of signatures of constituents from Kogi West senatorial district to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on the recall of its Senator, Dino Melaye, leader of the constituents, Chief Cornelius Olowo, has given reasons for their action.

Speaking shortly after submitting the petition at INEC’s headquarters in Abuja, on Wednesday, Olowo disclosed that Melaye’s recall was based on “abysmal performance” since he was elected in 2015.

He said that the petition, which had signatures of more than 52 per cent of the electorate in the area, was submitted at the office of the INEC Chairman.

Olowo claimed that despite the lawmaker’s low performance, he had distanced himself from his constituents.

According to him, “In the last two years, some senators have been meeting with their people quarterly. They update them on what has been happening and seek their contributions on issues and their aspirations to be presented at the senate.

“For the past two years, Sen. Malaye has not organised one town hall meeting anywhere in Kogi West to meet with the people to present his scorecard or stewardship.

“He has been completely disconnected from the people. Since he won his election and the legal battle at the court, he is no longer reachable.

“He has no constituency office in Kogi West as we speak, as a way to reach him on matter of interests from the people that elected him.’’

Olowo stated that the petition had signatures of registered voters in the senatorial district, who endorsed the recall.

“We have over 360,000 registered voters in Kogi West and after about one week of collection of signatures, we were able to gather over 188,500 signatures, endorsing the recall of the senator.

“We have submitted the petition at the office of INEC Chairman. It is now left for INEC to go and do confirmation of the signatures before going on the process needed for the recall,’’ he added.